Vickeblanka -- Natsu no Yume（夏の夢）

In less than a couple of hours, Toronto will be going into Stage 3 of the re-opening of the economy which means that places like gyms and movie theatres will be opening back up, and restaurants can finally offer dine-in service again after months of closure. I hope things go well and smoothly but I think it'll still be a few more weeks before I'm willing to chance a meal out.

One piece of good news is that I've been back earning a real income again for the past couple of weeks after more than three months relying on emergency government benefits. I was busy on one project today, and of course, in the afternoon while I'm doing that, I like to inject some music through the headphones. Sure enough, I decide to listen to pop singer Vickeblanka's（ビッケブランカ）2018 "Wizard" album and come across another track that I do indeed like.

This would be "Natsu no Yume" (Summer Dream), his 2nd single as a major artist which was released in August 2018. I first heard about this happy-go-lucky pop singer-songwriter because of his performance of the ending theme for the anime "DOUBLE DECKER! Doug & Kirill"（ダグ&キリル）, "Buntline Special", a grinding rock thriller along the lines of "Born to be Wild". Then out of curiosity, I checked out some of his other songs on YouTube and found him to be quite the musical chameleon in a very good way which ultimately got me a copy of "Wizard" from my anime buddy who was also a fan of "Buntline Special".

"Natsu no Yume" is no different. It's the typical mellow pop summer tune with a bit of jazziness, but what gives it a bit more lift is that echoing piano which comes in and out throughout the number as if it were coming in from a different dimension. Listening to it on the hard drive, I checked on YouTube whether there was some representation, and luckily, Vickeblanka has his own channel and the official music video for "Natsu no Yume". As I see him prancing about in the video, I rather thought that if Doctor Who ever regenerated into someone Japanese, it would be this guy in that getup (well, him and seiyuu Mamoru Miyano).

A couple of days ago, commenter Michael and I were talking about underrated singer-songwriter Shin Rizumu（シンリズム）and were hoping that his career was chugging along nicely. I can also hope for the same with Vickeblanka.

Anyways, it'll be another big step for us in Toronto. Do wish us luck!👍

Mieko Hirota -- Kodomo janai no（子供ぢゃないの）/Nebusoku nano（寝不足なの）

Received some sad news via commenter Sentimental Vika earlier this morning that singer Mieko Hirota（弘田三枝子）had passed away on July 21st at the age of 73 due to heart failure, although the announcement wasn't made until the 27th. I hadn't known until I read the comment and I haven't seen any news announcement footage via YouTube which is somewhat unusual when it comes to the death of a Japanese celebrity. I had only written up the most recent article with Hirota a little over a month ago regarding her 1967 song "Nagisa no Uwasa"（渚のうわさ）.

I'm not very knowledgeable about the discography of Hirota but usually when her name comes to mind, her 1969 hit "Ningyo no Ie"（人形の家）is the song that pops up. As well, my image of her has always been the one that appeared when that song first made its presence known...the long-tressed 22-year-old woman with that smoky air of mystery.

However, Hirota made her official debut as a fresh-faced teenybopper singer the better part of a decade prior back in 1961 with the Japanese-language cover of Helen Shapiro's "Don't Treat Me Like A Child" (by John Schroeder and Mike Hawker) when Hirota was only 14 years old. For that matter, according to its Wikipedia article, Shapiro herself was the same age when she recorded the original. The Japanese lyrics were provided by Kenji Sazanami（漣健児）and the title was "Kodomo janai no" (I'm Not A Child).

Like a lot of teenage singers in those days such as Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）, Hirota had that twin-branched discography in her early years: covers of overseas pop songs and homegrown fare created by Japanese songwriters. One of the former was her own cover of Connie Francis' "VACATION". For both Hirota and Shapiro, I've marveled at how incredible they sounded at 14 years of age. Perhaps the one Japanese pop singer that I can compare with them in terms of her boomer vocal stylings and debut is Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）.

Hirota's first kayo single was released in June 1962, "Nebusoku nano" (I'm Sleepy), a giddy pop tune about not getting those 40 winks due to getting all hot and bothered over that boy she's fallen hard for. It's got quite the fun and jazzy beat, and Hirota gives some great brass in her vocals, although I'm not sure how local PTAs reacted on hearing those yawns on the record.😪 And it was the same duo behind the famous "Sukiyaki" song that was responsible for "Nebusoku nano", lyricist Hachidai Nakamura and composer Rokusuke Ei（中村八大・永六輔）.

I'll finish off here with Shapiro's "Don't Treat Me Like A Child". My condolences to Hirota's family on their loss. I am sure that there is a lot of her discography that I have to cover in the months and years to come.

Milk (pop duo) -- Last dance

Well, it's gotta be something to note when the Japanese music business can say that it had at least two female groups with the same name of Milk. One has already been featured on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and that was the aidoru trio including a pre-pubescent Yoko Oginome（荻野目洋子）around 1980.

However, there was also a couple of sisters who were also Milk from around the mid-1980s. Singer-songwriters Ritsuko Miyajima and Rie Miyajima（宮島律子・宮島理恵）from Saga Prefecture, the latter who would take on the name M.Rie, got together and put out at least one album "Milk" in 1987. I read in the J-Wiki article for Ritsuko (the original source being her own blog entry) that the two had been part of Naoko Kawai's（河合奈保子）backup band Natural & MILK as backing vocals and that was the inspiration for the sisters to go it alone.

One of the tracks on "Milk" is "Last dance", a pretty snazzy song by the sisters that has some urban sophistication and a feeling of some of that brassy 1960s downtown pop. Just from listening to this one alone, I'm curious as to what the rest of "Milk" sounds like and it's a pity that the sisters may not have extended their singing together to other albums. Again, according to Ritsuko's blog, "Milk" got its re-release last year in the autumn (so maybe I have a chance to acquire it!). She also mentioned that she and Rie had also backed up other singers such as Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）and Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）.

On reading that the Miyajimas had been backing Kawai made me realize that perhaps often enough backup vocalists have been in understudy mode until they get their big chance to shine in the limelight. J-R&B singer Harumi Tsuyuzaki（露崎春女）had done her stint as a backup singer when Sing Like Talking was on tour, and Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）had been backing up Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）until they got their big break in the early 1980s.

M.Rie already has a couple of entries up on KKP including the adorable theme song for Pingu the Penguin. In recent years, Ritsuko has composed songs for the alphabet aidoru groups such as AKB48, NMB48 and SDN48.

Kohei Oikawa -- Tokyo Boshoku（東京暮色）

I hadn't been aware that there were a few ways to express sunset in Japanese. There is yuugata（夕方）which I usually hear in conversation, and then there is tasogare（黄昏）that seems to be the more romantic expression used as part of kayo titles. Now, I've just heard of boshoku（暮色）for the first time that also refers to dusk or twilight. Of course, I've yet to understand any particular nuances for this word.

However, it is used in the title "Tokyo Boshoku" (Tokyo Twilight), the 4th of 5 singles that singer-songwriter Kohei Oikawa（及川恒平）released in the 1970s. To be specific, "Tokyo Boshoku" was released in June 1974, and for those keen-eyed readers, the name Kohei Oikawa may ring a bell since I have already mentioned the Hokkaido native as a songwriter for Jiro Sugita's（杉田二郎）"Hitori ni Nareba"（ひとりになれば）last week.

I actually first heard about Oikawa through one of his songs that made it onto one of my "Light Mellow" discs. Unfortunately that song isn't available on YouTube so I took a look around the area and found this rather natty one. "Tokyo Boshoku" is a folk tune but instead of heading into New Music territory that I've read that a lot of Japanese folk songs fall under, this one is truly folksy in terms of old-fashioned kayo. The late, great lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）provided the words to Oikawa's whimsical melody, and instead of getting images of walking the concrete streets of modern Tokyo, it's more imagining the older quarters of the megalopolis such as Asakusa or Sugamo.

Aku's lyrics and Oikawa's music make things rather Chaplinesque or Buster Keatonesqsue as a guy mopes around Tokyo as he mourns another setback in his love life and tries to shake off the blues. Considering the time of its release, I can only see the fellow in ratty bell-bottomed jeans, similar jean jacket and maybe even a shapeless hat plopped onto his downturned head.

In addition to those 5 singles up to 1975, Oikawa has recorded 13 albums up to 2010, although during the 1980s, he didn't do anything music-related. For a time, he even left music altogether and became a tennis instructor according to J-Wiki. There is one album of his that I'm interested in, and that would be his 1975 "Natsukashii Kurashi"（懐かしいくらし...Nostalgic Living） because that J-Wiki article mentioned that it had a City Pop sheen with Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）contributing their talents to the project. Alas, I haven't been able to find any sign of it on YouTube.

Oikawa has still been singing in recent times as the video below shows. By the way, "Tokyo Boshoku" also appears on his July 1974 album "Namae no nai Kimi no Heya"（名前のない君の部屋...The Room For You Who Has No Name）.

Chiharu Matsuyama -- Nagai Yoru（長い夜）

Should be giving myself a Gibbs Slap upside my head once more since I'd assumed that this was already up on the blog. This is Chiharu Matsuyama's（松山千春）biggest hit, after all. Plus, I've heard it from time to time on various shows.

"Nagai Yoru" (Long Night) is a rock-n'-roll paean to someone's deep love for a woman and he would cherish the opportunity to show it to her all night. I remember it for all that wailing guitar work and Matsuyama's crooning vocals. From what I read on the J-Wiki article for "Nagai Yoru", his 10th single from April 1981, is that on his radio show in 2016, the singer said that the song he had created was supposed to have the folk rhythm that was his usual stock-in-trade. However, during the recording in the studio, guitarist Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）gave the suggestion of changing it into a more pop/rock thing, despite some resistance from other folks. Matsubara should have gotten a free dinner at the very least for putting the octane into the song.

The song became his second No. 1 after "Kisetsu no Naka de" （季節の中で）which was a 1978 release. It then became the 5th-ranked single of 1981. "Nagai Yoru" was first included on his 2nd singles collection album "Kishou Tenketsu II"（起承転結 II） which came out in November. That album also hit No. 1 and ended up as the 4th-ranked release of 1982. That rather intense title refers to the introduction and development of Japanese and Chinese narratives, according to Jisho.org.

Another reason for giving myself the slap is that I'd heard "Nagai Yoru" often enough on those monomane shows with master impressionist Corocket.

Sakurako Biseimaru -- Onna Misaki Bushi（おんな岬節）

I heard this song "Onna Misaki Bushi" (Song of the Woman on the Cape) on an episode of NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）weeks ago when the show was showing past scenes of folks singing on the stage, and I was rather captivated by it. There was a lot of spunky brio to it.

So I did a look around online and found out that the original singer was a lady by the name of Sakurako Biseimaru（美盛丸桜子）, and according to Tower Records, it had been released back in 1988. Aside from that, there is next to nothing on information about this mysterious enka singer, although I could glean from the same site that her active years may have been between 1988 and 1992. I had to find out how to read the kanji from Oricon itself. She has recorded a number of songs according to the JASRAC database.

Written by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）, it's got a thumping beat throughout as Biseimaru sings softly but actually carries a big stick (to partially quote US President Theodore Roosevelt). To wit, her protagonist in the lyrics is exhorting everyone to watch out since she doesn't want to be the quiet woman who prays for the safety of those brave fishermen on the trawlers on the rough seas. She wants to be one of those fishermen out there!

Another enka trope that I've noticed is how a number of songs of the genre have used misaki or "cape" in their titles. Being an island nation, Japan does have a lot of capes all over, and I guess standing at the edge of one of them with the water crashing all around must cut quite the heroic pose.

(karaoke version)

Not sure whatever became of Biseimaru but the fact that there are karaoke videos of her and the fact that people do perform "Onna Misaki Bushi" on "Nodo Jiman" mean that she still has a presence and memory in her fans' minds.

Shin Rizumu -- Mikakunin no Superstar（未確認のスーパースター）

Commenter Michael was kind enough to reciprocate when I put up my latest "Happy Songs For Me" list last Thursday. He put up his own list in the Comments section and I enjoyed all of his contributions including this one here.

Singer-songwriter Shin Rizumu（シンリズム）is a fellow that I did talk about back in 2018 with his 2nd single "Music Life" from November 2015, and I enjoyed that one for its jazziness. However, with his December 2019 digital download single "Mikakunin no Superstar" (Unidentified Superstar), it's all about the light synthpop.

Written and composed by the man himself, "Mikakunin no Superstar" has quite the appealingly spacey and chrome-gleaming futuristic sound, and from looking at the lyrics, it seems to be about a shy fellow who becomes quite the big man on campus online (albeit incognito). But I think that he's also chomping at the bit to finally reveal himself to a particular young lady who he's taken a shine to. And thus the inner conflict begins to boil. Sounds like it might be the just the idea for some sort of TV drama in Japan or a movie.